I'm going to pout if you won't paint my picture. Photo by Jérome Briere. Read more.1956 was Brigitte Bardot's breakthrough year – the year that saw the release of Et Dieu Créa La Femme and, with it, the creation of her persona as a sex kitten.In April that year,  21 years old and already with over 10 films to her credit, she attends the Cannes Film Festival. The Jury Special Prize goes to The Mystery of Picasso by Henri-Georges Clouzot.Perhaps that’s what prompts Bardot to visit Picasso at his studio at Vallauris in the hills above Cannes. After all, it’s less 15 minutes’ drive away. In her memoir, Bardot writes:He showed me his canvases, his ceramics, his studio. He was simple, intelligent, a bit indifferent and lovely. That was our first and last encounter. I often wanted to ask him to make a portrait of me, but I never dared…Well, that’s her version of the story. A rather different one comes from Lydia Corbett, his neighbour and muse at the time (you may … [Read more...]